Ascendance of a Bookworm

It’s the season when it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning. I was wriggling around in my futon, feeling cold, when my father, who was on the morning shift and nearly done with his preparations, spoke up.

“Myne, how are you feeling today?”

“Hmm? Same as usual. Why, Dad?”

Maybe he mistook my restless movements in bed for being unwell. When I sat up, my father furrowed his brows, worried.

“Otto wanted to have a winter meeting and asked if you could come after considering your health and the weather.”

“Got it. I don’t have a fever today, and Benno-san hasn’t called me, so I’ll head to the gate.”

After seeing my father off as he left for the second bell of opening, I quickly changed on the bed.

“Mom, Tulli, I’m going to the gate today.”

“That’s right. Since there’s less to gather in the forest lately, maybe you should stop going there.”

“Tulli’s right. It would be worse if you collapsed from a fever—better not to have the kids going into the forest alone.”

The cold season has arrived, making it easy to catch colds, and I've been feeling not great more often. Since pushing myself tends to trouble those around me, I decided to refrain from going to the forest.

“Hey, Myne. Heading to the gate today?”

Lutz called out to me, who was carrying only a tote bag.

Unlike me, bundled up to avoid catching a cold, the other kids wore relatively light clothes. Wearing too much makes it hard to move. The short period before the snow falls is the final push for gathering firewood.

I started walking to the gate with the other kids heading to the forest. Recently, I’ve managed to keep up with them without falling behind too much. Just as I resolved to try a bit harder, Lutz often kept me in check.

“Well then, I’ll stop by on the way back—wait for me, okay?”

“Yeah. Good luck with gathering, Lutz.”

Since the others were going to the forest, we parted at the gate.

I didn’t see my father at the gate, but I saluted the gatekeeper, who I already knew, and was led to the duty room.

“Is Otto here? It’s Myne.”

When I opened the door and entered, I saw the shelves along the wall filled with wooden tags related to budgeting.

“Hey, Myne-chan. Glad you came.”

“Otto-san, it’s been a while.”

After a crisp salute, I was invited to sit in the chair closest to the fireplace. Climbing up onto the slightly high seat, I took out a slate and stylus from my bag.

“About the winter schedule—how often do you think you can come?”

“Well, I discussed it with Dad. It’s whenever I feel well, it’s not a blizzard day, and Dad is on the morning or daytime shift.”

First, there aren’t many days in winter when I feel well. I hope my endurance has improved since last year, so I catch fewer colds and recover faster, but I can’t predict.

Next, the weather. Days without blizzards aren’t many either. Dad said it doesn’t have to be perfectly sunny; a light snow is fine, but if it does snow, I think they’ll stop me.

Also, Dad works the night shift about a third of the time in winter.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to come more than ten times before spring.”

“Well... I sort of expected that, but even just one day’s help last winter made it much easier, so I’m really counting on you. I’d be happy if you come as much as you can.”

“Yes.”

Since I earn stylus just by doing calculations, that’s good enough. I think I’ll need more stylus than last year for studying with Lutz, so I plan to work hard.

“Oh, the stylus you use for budget work isn’t out of your own pocket, right?”

“Pfft, hahaha. You’ve developed quite the merchant’s mindset. Stylus used during work is an expense. You can count on that.”

When I suddenly asked Otto to confirm, he widened his eyes then burst out laughing.

Though laughed at, I felt reassured to work. Rolling up my sleeves a little to avoid the writing smudging, I prepared my stylus.

“All set.”

“Here’s today’s work.”

Otto brought a bunch of wooden tags. It was an inventory of equipment used by the higher-ups’ departments. Otto apparently handled all accounting for this department. He shrugged, saying it was better to have him handle it because correcting calculation mistakes later would be more troublesome.